Reviews with content warning for Murder - Train to Pakistan

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh

6 reviews

moi's review

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emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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srivalli's review

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dark reflective slow-paced

3.0

3 Stars

One Liner: Works in bits and pieces; underwhelming as a whole

1947 India

Mano Majra is a small village that borders between India and Pakistan. It has an almost equal number of Sikhs and Muslims and one Hindu family. The village seems to be unbothered by the chaos of Partition until the only Hindu, the money lender, is murdered, and Juggut Singh, with a criminal past and a Muslim lover, becomes a suspect. Things take a turn for worse when a train arrives with the dead bodies of the Sikhs. What happens when neighbors turn enemies? What can Juggut Singh do to save the village and himself?

My Thoughts:

Well, given the title and the author’s name, the book sets high expectations. Fortunately, I knew better (not that it helped, but still).

The book is a little less than 200 pages and is divided into three sections without any chapters or section breaks. The scenes jump at random (and somehow even the publishers didn’t see the need to format it when reprinting different editions).

It can take a while to figure out how the events fit into the timeline. Some happen in parallel, some in the near past, and some are from the immediate future. Now, insert philosophical musings and nature-themed multipage metaphors where they shouldn’t be. Perfect (not)!

The premise is actually terrific. Imagine a border village that is a character of its own. The main villagers have defined personalities (let’s not forget this is historical fiction). I quite enjoyed the portrayal of Iqbal, the ‘foreign-educated social worker’. I even laughed out loud at the mention of beautiful white ladies and the trysts of handsome Nehru (IYKYK, if you don’t, well, too bad).

The touches of wit and sarcasm work in many ways, though not always. Blending fiction and social commentary can be a tough task, and this book doesn’t manage it well. I liked The Tamarind Tree by Sundara Ramaswamy a lot more in this aspect.

However, as a book that is supposed to present the story of the Partition, this one pretty much falls flat. The writing is raw, and there’s no sugar-coating of the brutalities. But none of it moved me as a reader. Not because I already know all of it and much more, but because the execution is ineffective.

I have to mention the super annoying translations of slang into English. Imagine using an alliteration for something like a pig’s p*nis. Ugh! The constant use of translated cuss words (and phrases) grated on my nerves. Compared to this, ‘something black in the dal’ feels pardonable.

There’s quite a lot of filmy drama as well. It does help the narrative some, but fizzles out in the last section.

To summarize, despite the raw portrayal of the Partition, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book for the topic. Go for nonfiction like The Tragic Story of Partition by H.V. Seshadri or Pakistan or the Partition of India by B.R. Ambedkar. I have physical copies of both books and intend to read them soon.

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masoomeyjaffery's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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anushka_17's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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saba13's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

The descriptions of the wilderness, the way Khushwant Singh talks about the river, the trees, the grass, the fields, the night sky are my favourite part of the book.

The story isn't what will stick with me, it's the characters, and how people we least expect good deeds from are the ones who end up doing the most vital ones.

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smuds2's review

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adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Was a short quick book with a lot of heavy concepts such as where power lies in a community (where ever the community thinks the power lies), us vs them (is the us the people we know of the people who are “like us” - same religion same color etc), hypocrisy of ideological fanatics (socialists who scorn the workers, religious adherents who commit violent acts).

It is a gruesome book, with plenty of tws necessary,but does a very good job of humanizing a historical moment.

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